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Comment: Re:Why solid? (Score 1) 277

by Nyrath the nearly wi (#37924762) Attached to: India To Build A Thorium Reactor

The question remains: What keeps us from building them? The fact that they do not produce waste than can be weaponized? For a nuclear power like India, perhaps that was a factor.

From a commercial power standpoint, it would have made more sense back in the 1940's to have developed thorium power reactors. Unfortunately for commercial power, back then the priority was creating large stockpiles of plutonium for the US military's nuclear weapon needs. Commercial power was only a secondary concern. So plutonium producing uranium reactors were developed instead.

Now that the cold war is over, commercial power is stuck with mature but inconvenient nuclear technology that creates unwanted plutonium. By comparison, thorium reactor technology is very immature. Lots of research money will have to be spent to bring it to maturity.

Comment: Re:Qt-based development (Score 2) 121

by Nyrath the nearly wi (#37541414) Attached to: Intel Drops MeeGo

From MeeGo merges with LiMo to form Tizen

What role for Qt?

The future of Qt in relation to Tizen is uncertain. It was not mentioned in any of today’s press releases. The Tizen website does make reference to a native development, but does not provide any further details. Instead HTML 5 is promoted as the development environment of choice and in an elastic piece of thinking is given as the reason for the need to evolve MeeGo.

However, Qt is a key component in many MeeGo related projects (e.g. part of the reference design for the GENIVI alliance for IVI devices) and, as noted above, Intel have indicated that there will be backwards compatibility with existing MeeGo netbook applications.

It seems likely that politics has a role to play here. Qt came into the MeeGo project from Nokia. Despite recent moves towards open governance, is still very much associated with Nokia. Intel were unhappy that Nokia switched to Windows Phone and the member of LiMo (including Samsung) may prefer to avoid mentioning or relying on what is perceived to be a competitor's asset.

In our opinion the likely scenario is that Qt will continue to play a major role in Tizen projects, but it will not be promoted as part of the core primary developer environment. Qt may be included as part of the default offering or it may be left to integrators to provide a version of Tizen with Qt. A possible example of how this might work in practise comes from Nomovok, who today released a press statement indicating that they would provide a version of Tizen integrated with Qt as part of their Steelrat system.

Comment: Re:Keep on with science (Score 1) 91

by Nyrath the nearly wi (#37467772) Attached to: NASA Looking To Power Spacecraft With Lasers
Yeah, right, like that's ever going to happen. The great unwashed are irrationally terrified that cell phones and wifi are causing brain cancer. How do you think they are going to react to giant solar collectors directing huge beams of freaking microwaves at the Earth? "Diabolical scientists plot to turn the planet into a microwave oven, film at eleven"

Comment: Re:Deflectors to full? (Score 1) 160

by Nyrath the nearly wi (#35567806) Attached to: NASA Wants Revolutionary Radiation Shielding Tech

Wait, no Gamma in space? What about the gamma ray bursts? Too far away?

You might say that. Gamma ray burst occur in other galaxies. Way to far away to be harmful.

Such a burst inside our galaxy would probably be strong enough to cause a mass-extinction event on the entire Earth, so any astronauts who were killed would have plenty of company.

Comment: Re:Deflectors to full? (Score 1) 160

by Nyrath the nearly wi (#35567754) Attached to: NASA Wants Revolutionary Radiation Shielding Tech

What do you think is going to be powering these space vehicles?

Solar power arrays. The insane Luddite activists went absolutely ballistic about the Cassini space probe with its piddling 72 pounds of plutonium in a sub-critical RTGs. Do you seriously believe that the activists and the politicians they control are going to allow NASA to put an actual full-scale nuclear reactor on a booster rocket?

No discipline is ever requisite to force attendance upon lectures which are really worth the attending. -- Adam Smith, "The Wealth of Nations"

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